Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member’s statement today – and I gave the facts and the numbers, and even the GNWT’s numbers through their partnership with the researcher on Avens – the study Where to Go and What to Do, one thing is clear: a tsunami of seniors is coming and there’s nowhere for them to turn.
As I said in my statement, if the capacity was similar to a school where once a school hit 75 percent full, it triggers a renewal of the school whether through renovation or a building of a new school, but yet we have no policy or solution for the seniors. Avens is 100 percent full right now, at least 50 on their waiting list with nowhere to go.
I want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services, what are the delays that are stopping this government from making a formal commitment to address the seniors population problem and provide Avens with the necessary tools so they can provide the solutions for those seniors who need places to go?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Health, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the numbers that the Member has put forward. I mean, they are department numbers. There is no question that the degree of increase of seniors in the Northwest Territories is going to be significant over the next number of years, but it isn’t just a Yellowknife problem; it’s a territorial problem and we have to look at this with a territorial lens.
We have been putting new beds for long-term care facilities in the Northwest Territories. We will have 18 beds in Norman Wells. We are going to have nine more beds in Behchoko, and we have put new beds in the Territories over the last number of years, including the Dementia Facility. At the same time, we are also partnering with the NWT Housing Corporation that is putting in independent living units throughout the Northwest Territories, five in the life of this government. That will make space available.
We are focusing on Our Elders: Our Communities, which is an aging in place strategy to help encourage and help support people who want to live in their homes.
All that said, we know we need additional beds, and over the last two years we have been working very closely with Avens, exploring a number of different alternative financing options to support the pavilion project which will increase the number of units or beds in the Northwest Territories significantly. We are committed to finding a solution. We will find a solution and we will find a way to support Avens as we move forward on that project. It’s an important project that needs to happen.
It couldn’t be said better than by the Canadian Medical Association president, Cindy Forbes. She talks about the growing rate of seniors. She also references the cost, where it costs $1,000 a day, on average, in Canada to hospitalize and hold seniors. Whereas if you find partners like Avens, it comes at a fraction of that price. She estimates average cost in Canada at fifty. Now, I know these are southern costs, but the ratio is the point, not the actual dollar number. Why is the government not realizing that?
My next question is: When will this government be willing to finally step up and address the Avens problem, which is an NWT problem because there are a lot of seniors there from the Northwest Territories, not just Yellowknife. In other words, when will this government be willing to step forward to make that final commitment to address the overpopulation of seniors and the inability to meet those needs?
As I’ve indicated, we’ve been working very closely with Avens over the last few years. We’ve even presented options and they’ve presented options back. At one point in time, we were talking about working with them to utilize the extended care needs and an extended care facility here in Yellowknife as an option to help them leverage some money to build their long-term care facility. At that time, that was declined by the board. I’m happy to say that the board has actually re-engaged and they are now interested in having dialogue and discussion about the possibility of merging those two opportunities, and it is certainly something that we’re open to.
As I’ve said, we work very closely with Avens. We’re in the process right now of actually taking all the work that’s been pulled together to figure out how we can move forward and exploring all the different financing options that have been presented to us by Avens and other groups to make this a reality. As I’ve said, this is incredibly important. We need to make this happen. We’re working with our partners. We’re going to continue to work with our partners and we will find a way to make this pavilion project a reality.
Avens presently has 29 beds. They want to extend it to 60, and of course, they have bigger plans than that. But you know what? They see what’s in the near future. They’ve got over 50 on their waiting list. I won’t go on at length, but our population is growing to 184 percent in five more years. We’re not meeting the demands. We couldn’t start the planning, reviewing and building and meet that challenge that’s presented to us in five years if we did something today.
Again, I’m going to ask the Minister, when is the government going to make a formal commitment so Avens can march forward on this particular project? We cannot wait anymore. Catastrophe is on the doorstep of seniors. Who is going to take responsibility for this tragic end?
At the current time on the Territorial Admissions Committee list for Avens we have 13 people on the wait-list to get into the Avens facility, so there is clearly a need. We know that when the facility in Norman Wells and the facility in Behchoko opens, we may have some opportunity to move some people back to their initial or home communities, which we are hoping will take off some of the immediate need on Avens.
But at the same time, as I’ve indicated, and I’m going to indicate again, we’re working very closely with Avens. We have a number of options and opportunities in front of us. We need to explore them and we will come to an agreement with Avens, and at that time we will be prepared to make announcements on when and how we’re going to move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Territorial-wide, territorial-wide, the growth in five years in seniors is going to be at 150 percent. All the beds that have been created today and all the beds they think that they’re going to create tomorrow still won’t meet that demand. The Minister can say we’re going to shuffle seniors around the room, around the territory to solve the problem. It is not meeting the challenge.
Will the Minister just be honest in this House to say are they going to make an agreement with Avens and when, because they cannot wait any longer. I can’t wait any longer. The seniors can’t wait any longer. As I started, and I’m going to finish, this tsunami of seniors is on our doorstep and they’re crashing away because they’ve got nowhere else to go. They demand their government to act.
As the Member indicated in his opening comments and following up with his questions, Avens is a territorial facility and it has a number of people from across the Northwest Territories. As we make beds available in Norman Wells, as we make additional beds available in Behchoko, we do believe, and we have a fairly solid understanding, that some of these individuals will move. That will take off some of the temporary demand on Avens, but it doesn’t eliminate the demand. I’ve acknowledged that today.
We are working very closely with Avens. We will continue to work very closely with Avens, exploring all the possibilities and financing options. We’re committed to getting this done and we will get this done. There will be an expansion to Aven Pavilion, and we believe it will be done in the appropriate time given resources, timing and agreements with Avens.
Thank you, Minister Abernethy. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
